Fracking

Back in February, 300 people crowded into a school gym in Medina County, Ohio, to lob questions, concerns—and some unvarnished anger—at state environmental regulators. At issue was the siting of a new natural gas compressor station along the planned NEXUS pipeline—a 250-mile transmission line being built to carry gas from Ohio to Chicago, southeast Michigan and Ontario.

Natural gas closed at a 17 year price low Thursday, and low prices have led to worry among lawmakers about the nature of Ohio’s oil and gas industry—but one group is still calling for an increase to the drilling tax.

A struggling market for natural gas has led top Republican and Democratic leaders to hold back on increasing the so-called fracking tax. But the liberal leaning think tank, Policy Matters Ohio, says data shows that companies pumped more natural gas from the state’s shale last year than the year before.

Residents in three Ohio counties where Secretary of State Jon Husted invalidated anti-fracking ballot issues have lost a lawsuit before the Ohio Supreme Court.

Justices said in a 6-1 decision Wednesday that Husted didn't have the discretion to assess the legality of "community rights charters" offered in Fulton, Medina and Athens counties, but he had another valid reason to toss the measures.

Republican Senators have made dozens of changes to the budget they unveiled last week, with a final vote by the full Senate likely Wednesday.

Senators eliminated language that would have banned using state money on any projects that require specific agreements negotiated with unions – that ban had angered Democrats. But state agencies would have to hold public hearings when so-called Project Labor Agreements are involved.

Senate leaders are talking about possibly creating a so-called "fracking" tax through this year’s budget plan. The fight over increasing the oil and natural gas tax has been a long battle on many fronts.

The Senate plans on releasing a revised budget any day now and it might include an increase to what’s known as the severance tax—this is a tax on the oil and gas extracted from Ohio’s shale.

If that happens, it could be Gov. John Kasich’s closest shot at getting an increase to pass in three years.

Ohio lawmakers are currently considering a measure that would fast track fracking on public lands. But there’s debate over whether it would allow drilling activity in state parks.

The bill would allow drillers who are working on private property that’s separated by state lands to drill through those lands. Republican Rep. Al Landis of Dover says the drilling would be thousands of feet underground, because a commission would have to allow drilling on the surface in state parks.